07 November 2016

Suspect Arrested in Shipbreaking Disaster Probe

An
announcement has been made by local authorities that the death toll for the
shipbreaking disaster in Gadani has been raised to 20, sparking international
concern about shipbreaking yard safety.

According to
GeoTV news, there have been at least four people suspected to be responsible
for the fire, which was caused by multiple explosions on a tanker being
dismantled by over 100 people.

The suspects
include Chaudhry Ghafoor, Muhammad Hafeez, Contractor Jalal and Farooq Bangali.
Only one suspect named Hafeez has been taken into police custody.

The day
after PTI reported the death toll had reached 17, with 30 people still reported
missing and over 50 seriously injured, the Indian Ministry of Shipping
announced that it will be reviewing the safety of its shipbreaking workers.

The
shipbreaking industry in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is growing, due to the
low cost of labour and the high price of steel, however there is little to know
concern for the safety of workers and serious injury and preventable death are
extremely common.

The
statement by the Indian Ministry of Shipping reads as follows:

“As part of
its Coastal Community Development Programme under Sagarmala, the Ministry of
Shipping has sanctioned Rupees 10 Crore as part of the first instalment to the
Gujarat Maritime Board for capacity building and safety training of 20,000
workers involved in the ship recycling activities at Alanag- Sosiya recycling
yard in Bhavnagar district in Gujarat. The total project cost is estimated to be
Rupees 30 Crore over a period of 3 years.

“The
initiative has been identified in the National Perspective Plan (NPP) of
Sagarmala for the upliftment of the coastal community and aims to provide
health and safety training to the skilled and semi-skilled workers which is
required while performing their work at ship recycling yards.

“Due to the
accident-prone nature of the ship breaking activity, Gujarat Maritime Board has
been running an indigenous Safety Training and Labour Welfare Institute at
Alang and has trained about 1.10 lakh labours over the last 12 years.”

Maersk has
admitted duplicity in its handling of the scrapping of vessels on the Indian
and Bangladeshi coast in 2014, having both publicised against it whilst also
participating in and encouraging another company to partake in it.